On this page: Quir – Quirinalis – Quirinus

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QUIRTNUS.

reconciliation of Menelaus and Helena, — the sacrifice of Polyxena at the tomb of Achilles, — the embarkation of the Greeks, — the scattering of their ships, and the death of Ajax.

In phraseology, similes, and other technicalities, Quintus closely copied Homer. The materials for his poem he found in the works of the earlier poets of the epic cycle. But not a single poetical idea of his own seems ever to have inspired him. He was incapable of understanding or appropriating any thing except the majestic flow of the language of the ancient epos. His gods and heroes are alike devoid of all character: every thing like pathos or moral interest was quite beyond his powers. Of similes (not very original in their character) he makes copious use. With respect to chronology his poem is as punctual as a diary. But his style is clear, and marked on the whole by purity and good taste, without any bombast or exag­geration. There can be little doubt that the work of Quintus Smyrnaeus is nothing more than an amplification or remodelling of the poems of Arctinus and Lesches. It is clear that he had access to the same sources as Virgil, though there is nothing from which it would appear that he had the Roman poet before his eyes. He appears, however, to have made diligent use of Apollonius.

The first edition of Quintus was published by Aldus Manutius in 1504 or 1505, from a very faulty MS. Laur. Rhodomannus, who spent thirty years upon the correction and explanation of the text of Quintus, published an improved edition in 1604. But the standard edition, founded on a collation of all the extant manuscripts, is that of Tychsen, Strasburg, 1807. It is also printed along with Hesiod, Apollonius, &c., in Didot's edition, Paris, 1840. A smaller poem on the Twelve Labours of Hercules, ascribed to Quintus Smyrnaeus, is extant in MS. (Bernhardy, Grundriss der Griecli. Lit- teratur, vol. ii. p. 246, &c.; Tychsen, Comment. de Quinti Smyrnaei Paralip., Gottingen, 1783 ; the materials of which are also contained in his edition.) [C. P. M.]

QUIRINUS, according to Dionysius of Hali- carnassus (ii. 48), a Sabine word, and perhaps to be derived fromquiris, a lance or spear. It occurs first of all as the name of Romulus, after he had been raised to the rank of a divinity, and the fes­ tival celebrated in his honour bore the name of Quirinalia (Virg. Aen. i. 292 ; Cic. De Nat. Deor. ii. 24 ; Ov. Am. iii. 8. 51, Fast. iv. 56, 808, vi. 375, Met. xv. 862.) Owing to the probable meaning of the word it is also used as a surname of Mars, Janus, and even of Augustus. (Ov. Fast. ii. 477 ; Serv. ad Aen. vii. 610 ; Sueton. Aug. 22 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 9 ; Virg. Georg. iii. 27; Lydus,Z)e Mens. p. 144 ; comp. romulus.) [L. S.]

2. Consul b.c. 12 with M. ValeriusMessalla. It would appear from his name that he was the son of the preceding ; but the language of Tacitus(Ann. iii. 48) implies that he was of obscure origin. This historian relates that he was a native of Lanuvium, and had no connection with the ancient Sulpicia gens j and that it was owing to his mili-

tary abilities and active services that he gained the consulship under Augustus. He was subsequently sent into Cilicia, where he subdued the Homona-denses, a fierce people dwelling in Mount Taurus ; and in consequence of this success, he received the honour of the triumphal ornaments. In b.c.1, or a year or two afterwards, Augustus appointed him to direct the counsels of his grandson C. Cae­sar, then in Armenia ; and on his way to the East he paid a visit to Tiberius, who was at that time living at Rhodes. Some years afterwards, but not before A. d. 5, he was appointed governor of Syria, and while in this office he took a census of the Jewish people. This is the statement of Josephus, and appears to be at variance with that of Luke, who speaks as if the census or enrolment of Cyre-nius was made at the time of the birth of Christ. This discrepancy has given rise to much discussion and various explanations, of which the reader will find an able account in Winer's Biblisches Real-worterbuch, s. v. Quirinius.

Quirinus had been married to Aemilia Lepida, whom he divorced ; but in A. d. 20, twenty years after the divorce, he brought an accusation against her, because she pretended to have had a son by him. She was at the same time accused of other crimes ; but the conduct of Quirinus met with general disapprobation as harsh and revengeful. Tiberius, notwithstanding his dissimulation, was evidently in favour of the prosecution, as he was anxious to conciliate Quirinus, who had no chil­dren, and might therefore be expected to leave his property to the emperor. Quirinus died in a. d. 21, and was honoured with a public funeral, which Tiberius requested of the senate. (Dion Cass. liv. 28 ; Tac. Ann. ii. 30, iii. 22, 48 ; Suet. Tib. 49 ; Strab. xii. p. 569 ; Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 1. § 1 ; St. Luke, ii. 1 ; comp. Acts of Apost. v. 37.)

R.

C. RABI'RIUS, defended by Cicero in the year of his consulship, b. c. 63, in a speech still extant. In b. c. 100 L. AppuleiusSaturninus, the tribune of the plebs, had been declared an outlaw by the senate, besieged in the Capitol, and put to death with his accomplices, when he had been obliged to surrender through want of water. This had happened in the consulship of Marius, who had been compelled to conduct the attack, and had been supported by the leading men in the state. Among the few survivors of the actors in that scene, was the senator C. Rabirius, who had since lived in retirement, and had now attained a great age. As nearly forty years had elapsed, it would have appeared that he could have had no danger to apprehend on account of the part he had taken in the affray ; and he would doubtless have been allowed to continue undisturbed, had not Caesar judged it necessary to deter the senate from resort­ing to arms against the popular party, and to frighten every one in future from injuring the sacred person of a tribune, even in obedience to the senate's decree. Caesar, therefore, resolved to make an ex­ample of Rabirius, and accordingly induced the tribune, T. Labienus, whose uncle had perished among the followers of Saturninus, to accuse Rabi­rius of having murdered the tribune. To make the warning still more striking, Labienus did not pro­ceed against him on the charge of majestas^ but re-